April 19, 2008

Box Score

Erie, Pa. - The Mercyhurst men's lacrosse team fought off a strong comeback by the Notre Dame de Namur Argos and pulled out its tenth straight home win dating back to last year in an 8-6 victory Saturday. Mike Bartlett and Mike Thon teamed up again to lead the Lakers offensively with two goals apiece. Mercyhurst has now won its last six games and is 8-3 overall. Notre Dame de Namur suffers it second loss of the season and falls to 9-2.

The Lakers flew out of the gates and got a goal from attacker Jordan Witt just 51 seconds into the game. Four minutes later, Mike Thon tallied his 19th goal of the season unassisted to put Mercyhurst up 2-0. Notre Dame de Namur finally got on the board at the 9:28 mark with a goal from Ryan Husley. The Lakers would get goals from Bartlett and Michael Sciulli to take a 4-1 lead going into the second period.

The Argos picked up the only two goals in the second period with a goal from Nick Huetteman and a man-up goal from Jon Black. In the third period though, the Lakers would answer back with two goals of their own from Barlett and Aaron Manzer.

Going into the fourth period, Mercyhurst held a 6-3 lead and was outshooting the Argos 38-10. Notre Dame de Namur continued to threaten the Lakers though and got back-to-back goals from Brad Matzek and Tim Campeau to pull within one with 5:56 left in regulation. On the face-off after Campeau's goal, Mercyhurst's Thon won the groundball and fired a quick goal to give the Lakers a two goal cushion. Two minutes later, teammate Andy Winslow would score his first career goal off of a pass from Ryan Arnold to push Mercyhurst ahead 8-5. Norte Dame de Namur would get one more goal from Campeau before time would run out.

Bartlett finished the day with two goals and one assist while Andy Winslow earned his first career points with one goal and one assist. Thon contributed two goals and Jordan Witt, Aaron Manzer, and Michael Sciulli each tallied a goal apiece. Ryan Arnold also dished out one assist.

The Lakers held a 40-24 advantage in groundballs and fired off 46 shots to the Argos' 17. Goalkeeper Jason LaShomb finished the day with four saves and four groundballs.

The Lakers will now travel to New York Institute of Technology for a key East Coast Conference match-up Saturday. Game time is set for 1 p.m.